THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604200347
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Ice Plant Island apparently leaves visitors cold.
Giving a nod to both history and tourism, the site was renamed New World Park at the semi-annual meeting Friday of the Roanoke Island Commission.
Ice Plant Island ``has never been its official name, yet that's all it's ever been known by,'' said commission chairman John Wilson. ``It's the official name of nothing.''
The 40-acre island, once the home of a plant that made ice, is across Shallowbag Bay from the Manteo waterfront. It is the home of the Outer Banks History Center, a gift shop and the 16th-century style sailing ship Elizabeth II.
Marketing consultant John T. Boatright, who was behind the successful ``Virginia is for Lovers'' campaign, told commission members that Roanoke Island does not need another island name to confuse tourists. And an ice plant does not evoke the range of history the project is planning.
Even Manteo's mayor said he'd never go to a place named after an ice plant.
``If I was coming here, I could never talk my kids into going to Ice Plant Island,'' Lee Tugswell said. ``But if you said `New World Park' they'd say, `Let's go!' ''
The Roanoke Island Commission has been chipping away at the project since the early 1980s, when the state celebrated the 400th anniversary of Roanoke's voyages to North America.
The North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $10 million for expansion of the historical facilities and exhibits at the island.
Despite the historical significance of Roanoke Island, Wilson said nearby Jamestown and Williamsburg in Virginia seem to have usurped the state's rightful place of honor.
``North Carolina has not done much to promote its history,'' Wilson said during a February interview. ``Roanoke Island is the first site of English-speaking America. History has always confused this for us. The first English colonists landed (here) in 1584 and the land was named Virginia.''
Joining the other attractions of Roanoke Island - The Lost Colony, the Aquarium, the Elizabethan Gardens and Fort Raleigh - New World Park will be a hands-on museum depicting early Native American and colonists' lifestyles on Roanoke Island. In addition to authentic and replicated artifacts, the center will also feature a Hollywood-quality film showing the conflict between settlers and Indians from the Native American perspective. Construction plans also include a small amphitheater, an audio-visual room, an 8,000-foot exhibit hall, a museum shop, a film theater, offices and conference rooms.
Part of the marketing strategy for New World Park will be to combine promotion efforts with those of Roanoke Island, Boatright said.
``The marketing focus has to be on that which is unique to you,'' Boatright said. ``Certainly New World Park is not going to prosper unless Roanoke Island prospers. You're all going to rise and fall together.''
Commission members liked Boatright's suggestion to promote Roanoke Island attractions as one unit: ``The Center of the Outer Banks.''
Boatright also recommended:
Charging $5 rather than the earlier proposed $4 for admittance. Advance combined-attraction tickets could be available at a discount.
Improving the Aycock Brown Welcome Center in Kitty Hawk - an important promotional asset - with clearer traffic signs and less-overwhelming displays.
Setting up an 800-number.
Improving the signs to Roanoke Island.
Including an Indian encampment as one of the attractions at the park.
Creating an authentic play park - for instance, a miniature reproduction of the Elizabeth II.
Wilson said groundbreaking is scheduled for late summer and the $6 million construction project is expected to be completed in the summer of 1998. by CNB